Pittsburgh Pirates: Edison Volquez 2014 Playoff Start Out Done

Editorial: The Pittsburgh Pirates 2014 Wild Card game was a tough game to watch.  Not only were they shut down by Madison Bumgarner, but they also saw Edinson Volquez struggle.

In 2014, there was a debate about if the Pittsburgh Pirates should start Gerrit Cole in the final game of the season and try to force a tie breaking game or save him for the wild card game to face off against Bumgarner and the Giants.  The Bucs decided to try to win the division and used Cole. This forced them into a corner of pitching Edinson Volquez in the Wild Card game against Mad Bum and the San Francisco Giants.

Now Volquez had a solid year for the Bucs, although not one that clearly suggested he was the guy you would want in a one-game playoff.  His traditional stats of ERA and WHIP were solid sitting at 3.06 and 1.23 respectively.  However, his peripherals were not as good, as he had a FIP of 4.15, his .263 BABip suggested he had luck on his side, and was only striking out 6.5 per nine innings while walking over three per nine innings.

2014 Game Numbers

Enter Edinson Volquez and the 2014 National League Wild Card game.  The Pittsburgh Pirates had home field as the game was played at PNC Park with a rowdy crowd ready to go.  Volquez held his own in the first three innings and posted zeros to match Bumgarner.  However, the fourth inning is when the wheels came off.  With no outs, the Giants loaded the bases and in stepped Giants’ shortstop Brandon Crawford.  Crawford promptly took Volquez deep for a grand slam.  The Giants ended up hanging a four-spot for the inning and quickly the Bucs were down 4-0 against one of the best pitchers in baseball. Volquez was charged with another run in the sixth and did not record an out in the inning.  He walked three hitters while only striking out three.  Meanwhile, Bumgarner went on to mow down 10 Buccos and threw a four hit shutout.

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Last Night’s AL Wild Card Game

Volquez’s final line for the game was five innings and five earned runs for an ERA of 9.00.  For as bad start as that looks in a box score, Luis Severino topped it in last night’s game.  The young Yankees’ pitcher had a dynamite season pitching to a 2.98 ERA.  However, he only made it through a third of an inning last night before getting “yanked.” The 23-year-old gave up four hits, walked one, allowed two home runs, and a total of three earned runs.  This equals out to be an ERA of 81.00.  The damage could have been worse, but Chad Green came in to strikeout Byron Buxton and Jason Castro.  Hard not to feel for the young righty hander in his first playoff game ever, especially after the season he had.  Voqluez’s start will go down as one of the worst in recent playoff history.  However, what do you think? Is his start worst than Severino’s?  Comment below!